Various solar collector - skylight assemblies have been proposed wherein the assembly is constructed and arranged to function not only as a solar heater, but also as a skylight to illuminate the interior of a building upon which the assembly is mounted. Examples of such assemblies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,144,931 dated Mar. 20, 1979; and 4,219,008 dated Aug. 26, 1980. These assemblies include shutters or vanes adapted for movement between a heat absorption position, wherein the assembly functions as a solar heater, to a second position allowing the sun rays to pass through the solar collector, whereby the assembly functions as a skylight.
The solar collector - skylight assembly of the present invention is an improvement over the prior art solar collector - skylight assemblies, in that, in lieu of vanes or shutters, parabolic reflectors are employed for not only focusing the sun rays on the collector during the solar heater phase, but also for focusing the sun rays through the collector during the skylight phase of operation. By this construction and arrangement, the fluid flowing through the solar collector is more efficiently heated, and more sunlight is directed into the interior of the building than provided heretofore.
The solar collector - skylight assembly of the present invention comprises essentially, a housing adapted to be mounted on the roof or wall of a building, the housing having a transparent top wall and a translucent bottom wall. A plurality of fluid circulating pipes, having heat absorbing plates secured thereto, are mounted within the housing, and a plurality of parabolic reflectors are slidably mounted within the housing in proximity to the fluid circulating pipes whereby the reflectors are shiftable from a heat absorbing position wherein the sun rays are focused on the pipe heat absorbing plates, to a skylight position wherein the sun's rays are focused into the interior of the building. A temperature responsive control mechanism is operatively connected to the reflectors for shifting the reflectors between full heat absorbing and skylight positions, and also to intermediate positions wherein simultaneous adjustment of the solar energy absorbed by the solar collector and amount of illumination in the building can be obtained.